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Wrong password #2411

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IamConfused opened this issue Jun 1, 2017 · 146 comments
Closed

Wrong password #2411

IamConfused opened this issue Jun 1, 2017 · 146 comments
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@evertonfraga
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Type: Bug v0.8.9
Milestone
0.10.1

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@IamConfused
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System information

Version: `0.8.9`
OS & Version: osx 10.11.6
Node type: `geth(default)`

Hi,
I created an Ethereum main account some weeks ago.
The day I created my account the sync was surprisingly slow so I closed the program and started it again. Tried to sync for more than 24hours and it still did not finish the sync. So I decided to backup everything and after that I executed these steps:

mkdir /Volumes/Drive2/Ethereum
cp -rpv ~/Library/Ethereum/chaindata /Volumes/Drive2/Ethereum/
mv ~/Library/Ethereum/chaindata ~/Library/Ethereum/OldChaindata_to_delete_when_tested
ln -s /Volumes/Drive2/Ethereum/chaindata ~/Library/Ethereum/chaindata
rm -rf ~/Library/Ethereum/OldChaindata_to_delete_when_tested

My sync finally worked and my main account shows the amount of ETH I transferred to it.
BUT: Now I wanted to send some ETH. I was asked for my password and I used exactly the one I wrote down when I created my account but it always says: "wrong password". Same problem if I try to create a wallet contract. I typed my password at least 10 times now and I am 100% sure it is the one I defined.

I still have my keystore backed up. Will I be able to restore my account with this information?
@IamConfused
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screen shot 2017-06-01 at 22 47 07
This it what my system log shows.

@RomanRoss
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RomanRoss commented Jun 2, 2017 •
edited

Hi,
I join to the topic. There is very similar issue. After I transfered the wallet to my another computer, the password is not valid. I can see my balance, wallet is synchronizing, but I can't withdraw funds because my password is permanently wrong now. Is there some way how to solve this issue?

Ethereum-Wallet-linux64-0-8-10.deb
Ubuntu 16.04.

@RomanRoss
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I have solved my issue simply re-install the wallet. Password works fine now.

@evertonfraga
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evertonfraga commented Jun 6, 2017 •
edited

@IamConfused as I can see that you are tech-savvy, would you please try to run geth on the console and perform those tests on the command line? Here's how:

  1. run geth console, or geth attach if it's already started.
  2. on geth console, execute the following command: > personal.unlockAccount('0xACCOUNT_ADDRESS')

Now it should prompt you for the password.

Unlock account [0xACCOUNT_ADDRESS]
Passphrase: [INSERT PASSWORD]
true

If the return of it is true, you've got your password safe, and this should be some RPC problem. Otherwise, we should dig this deeper. Thanks for reporting.

@evertonfraga evertonfraga mentioned this issue Jun 7, 2017
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@IamConfused
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Dear Ev,

Thanks a lot for your detailed answer. It finally worked. I still don't know what exactly the problem was. Anyway I appreciate a lot that you took the time to answer on my comment!

@seesix
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seesix commented Jun 18, 2017

I have the same problem I have backed up the my UTC key from my mining gig to a USB stick. I then installed the latest version ethereumwallet onto a second machine. My internet connect here in NZ is slow so it then took several days to sync geth.

Once geth had finally synced I copied the key into the keystore on the newly synced machine.
My balance is displayed but I am unable to transfer or create contracts due to incorrect password.

I am sure the password is correct as I only ever use the 1 password for everything.

Ubuntu 16.04
Geth Version: 1.6.5-stable
Ethereum Wallet and Mist v0.8.10

@b10c77
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b10c77 commented Jun 20, 2017

Same here, when I tried to transfer ETH out of the address I was asked for a password but it keeps saying it's incorrect!

@Lucianovd
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Hey guys,

Similar problem over here. Created a wallet a week ago, syncing took a while and I transferred some ether to my 'main account wallet'. After restarting my computer a few times and waiting for a while the syncing completed and there it was, the ether arrived. In the meanwhile (being new to the wallet) I created 3-4 wallets. None of those where asked for a password.

This morning I installed mist next to the Ethereum wallet I already have (I don't know if it is possible that this has something to do with the problem). Also I changed the main wallet name a few times.

Now when I try to send my ether it says wrong password, I am 99% sure I am not writing the wrong password. I tried reinstalling both of the applications, didn't work. Also I tried to open wallet with etherwallet and also here it says wrong password.

In the application one time I had an error message when I tried to get to my wallets, I don't know the error what it said but it had something to do with geth..

I really hope someone could help me fix this problem, or have any idea what it could be (next to mistyping the password :P)

Thank youuuu

@mdcrews5
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Why is this closed? A TON of people are having this same problem and there is NO solution!! I would think the devs would have some way or care to rectify this HUGE issue. We are NOT forgetting our passwords...they ARE NOT working!!!

@Spartakkus
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Same incorrect password issue. I'm sure it's the correct, but impossible to proceed. exported keyfile to MEW and also password error. It has to be a bug when setting password in ethereum wallet. this is very frustrating

@mdcrews5
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mdcrews5 commented Aug 9, 2017

agree, this is strait BS, I wrote my PW down as soon as I entered it and i use it all the time. I am certain that it is correct.

@Hyperiun
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I see that not only the problem, I can not move the funds, I have MIST the last version, and the wrong password.

Anyone can develop a solution?
Thanks

@calvinke8
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I am also having this problem. Sure I did not forget the password as I wrote it down and transferred before. Has been saying wrong password for the past 2 weeks. All threads say we forgot the password but this does not seem to be the case with so many people.

@Hyperiun
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Thanks for your answer, I have already solved the problem.
The Mist 0.9 version does not work on my mac, I downloaded the 0.8 again and everything is correct, it does not connect the last server.

@mdcrews5
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mdcrews5 commented Aug 16, 2017 via email

@Hyperiun
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Go to the Mist console

@frufru99
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same problem here, i created an account a month ago, used pwgen for the password, copypasted it to the wallet and to a txt file stored on a pendrive so 0 chance for mistake but the wallet keeps telling me now that the password is wrong

@calvinke8
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Same. Still no solution. Had password copied. Also found it on key logger and same password. Tried reinstalling. No luck

@acebytes
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acebytes commented Sep 2, 2017

I am having the same issue. My password works fine on my other addresses in the wallet, but it won't work in the main Etherbase address. I really hope there is a solution to this. I have already transferred tokens to the Etherbase address, assuming the password I set would work. I tried unlocking the address through geth attach, but no go. Also, MyEtherWallet says "wrong passphrase" too when I upload the keystore file. When I upload the other keystore files to MEW, they unlock instantly using the same password. Anyone find a solution? I am going to try to install an earlier version of mist as suggested above, but I can't see how this would fix the issue as the address cannot be unlocked using MEW.

@bmmidei
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bmmidei commented Sep 14, 2017

any resolution to this issue? I am experiencing the same thing.

@grizwold2016
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I have exactly the same issue...I have no problem with main account....but Account 1 will not let me transfer...keeps saying wrong password.....I only use one password EVER! I tried to get password recovery and they have tried twice and cannot unlock...PLEASE HELP!!!

@lucas-iao
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same issue- transferred funds from main account in ether mist mac wallet to a 2nd account created within the wallet. The original password and main account are fine. However, all the ether transferred to the 2nd account is stuck. I see it-but every time i try to send it, i receive "wrong password" . Any help Any ideas Any solutions?

@grizwold2016
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grizwold2016 commented Sep 30, 2017 via email

@sworteu
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sworteu commented Nov 9, 2017

I have this issue since december 2016 (after creating the wallet) it cointains alot of ethereum but i can't seem to access it. "Password incorrect".

Tried CAPS LOCK on/off still no luck. Also Mist is missing a "Caps Lock is on" Warning.

@TGM
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TGM commented Nov 13, 2017 •
edited

Same problem here, created my walled using GUI, on version 0.8.10, now it just returns password incorrect, all my other accounts are working properly except one.

@0x13ens
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0x13ens commented Nov 13, 2017 •
edited

Can confirm i currently have allot of eth sat in a mist wallet i created yesterday, and all its saying is 'Wrong Password', Uploaded the key file to myetherwallet and tried the password and once again 'wrong password' wtf is this crap, nearly all my money is locked in this account

@b10c77
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b10c77 commented Nov 13, 2017

I was never able to transfer funds out from one of my wallets (the default one created when installing the wallet), the password I used says it's not valid :/

@sebd-davra
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0.8.1 or 0.8.10 ? you give the link for the v0.8.10 not the v0.8.1

@m-thomson
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Sorry, I forgot version numbers don't work like decimals. I guess the trailing zero is important.

0.8.10 is the version I used (0.8.1 doesn't exist).

@sebd-davra
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the tagged version 0.8.1 still exist on github but was not released : https://github.com/ethereum/mist/tree/0.8.1

@m-thomson
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I'm positive that I downloaded it from the release page so that wouldn't be it.

@r3lax3d
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r3lax3d commented Jan 15, 2018 •
edited

I am sorry to write in my role as IT Delivery Manager here. Not to abuse people and slow down the positive input here but this is a MAJOR issue that should have high priority and is OS type, Mist, Wallet and Geth version independent. Mist Version 0.9.2 also creates this issue. I am missing a taskforce here. High impact on future usage of Ethereum it's blockchain. Two years and no detailed test reports ? How many people are involved ? Why is this not on the agenda of the Ethereum Core Devs Meetings.

@ontheronix
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@abonn How did you manage to get such an old Mist version up and running? I tried all older versions but none boots completely.

@abonn
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abonn commented Jan 16, 2018

@ontheronix I finally fixed this issue about two months ago so I cannot provide exact details. Someone posted a link to a github with a repository of the old versions. I downloaded this old version and then I believe opened up command prompt and utilized geth to update my main account in the program.

@oldmate89
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oldmate89 commented Jan 16, 2018 •
edited

@m-thomson - Great to hear that you were able to resolve this issue :) I am currently downloading the full blockchain on Mist 0.8.10 and really hoping this will resolve my issue. I have tried on the latest version of Mist, MEW, Kraken, and I have been attempting to crack my pre-sale wallet for the last week with no such luck.
Can you please confirm:

  1. That this was a presale wallet?
  2. Could you please outline which special characters you had in your password?
  3. Do you have multiple languages installed on your computer?
  4. Was your password unsuccessful on MEW, Kraken, Mist etc. but subsequently worked only on Mist 0.8.10?

@r3lax3d
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r3lax3d commented Jan 16, 2018

@abonn
Thats realy good news. A question about the version. Was it the initial version where you created the wallet / Main account with and that fixed it or did you used an even older version due to a link that was provided. Would realy like to know this.
Similar like the question as point 4 from @oldmate89

@IvanM1993
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hi all. The first version of the wallet I was 0.8.10, may 23, 2017. I have created a basic purse, before I had another wallet that I created on the website myetherwallet.com later I imported this wallet in the app, threw on a basic wallet a little ether. The password for the base of the purse was the same as for the purse, which was created on the website myetherwallet.com. later came the version 0.9.0 and I have updated the app. I wanted to send with the basic purse to another purse a little bit of ether, but the password was wrong. Checked basic wallet password on the website myetherwallet.com but there is also information about wrong password. another wallet with the same password worked. in January I switched to an initial version 0.8.10, but the password still didn't work for this wallet. When I created the wallet of the base in a line for a password I copied from the text editor the same password as for another purse, whether it could affect the work. this is the big question for me.

@ghost
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ghost commented Feb 8, 2018

@FireAndTheVoid how would you re-produce a pre-sale wallet encryption?

@ghost
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ghost commented Feb 8, 2018

@abonn how did you utilize geth to update your main account in the old version you installed?

@FireAndTheVoid
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@pal-presaleWrongPW Sorry, I've never worked with pre-sale wallets before.

@svobodnu1
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svobodnu1 commented Feb 25, 2018 •
edited

i can help recover password pc-dopomoga @ mail. ru remove spaces

@BreakHeadz
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Collect on new life.. seems lost password on forever
0 x FE902372f2F9561bb3CfFc5e191F9B7C9F2615a1
Tnx who care. 2018 peace

@svobodnu1
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@BreakHeadz write me in the mail above and try to help you password pc-dopomoga @ mail. ru remove spaces

@Metatronovich
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This issue still exists.
My locked wallet was created on 18th of may 2016.
I am syncing geth at the moment and downloaded the version of mist that fits that date to try and load the wallet there.

I only ever use 2 kinds of passwords, already tried hashcat with no results.

@sebd-davra
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Sure the issue still exist, it's a trap wallet.

@xander77a
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My ETH is trapped as well. I don't recall ever making a pw for this useless wallet. I'm on OSX and initially downloaded in late 2017 iirc.

My questions are, what is the best brute force method, where is my keystore file, and can the attempts to crack this wallet originate from another lan connected device, or can the wallet be transferred to a Windows machine (isolated with substantially more power) and cracked there?

Lastly, have the ethereum developers acknowledged, or apologized, or resolved this horrible bug?

@Zhuvikin
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Zhuvikin commented Jun 13, 2019 •
edited

I found that \ character is ignored.

My password contains a lot of special characters and it was failed to send any transactions for a several months from my Ethereum Wallet due to incorrect password error. Now, I just skip \ (backslash) in my password and it works!

Do not use backslash in your passwords!

@advancedsoftwarecanada
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INSANE. I hope this helps someone @Zhuvikin

@evertonfraga PLEASE COMMENT.

@calvinke8
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calvinke8 commented Jun 13, 2019 via email

@ihatecreatingaccounts
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ihatecreatingaccounts commented Jun 14, 2019 via email

@philsmd
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philsmd commented Jun 23, 2019 •
edited

hey @Zhuvikin . It's an interesting problem you have found but are you also able to reliably reproduce this problem ? can you create a new wallet with a similar password containing the \ character and this problem is still the same and happens all the time ? which geth version, which mist version and which operating system do you use ? The operating system language and keyboard layout (language) might also be an interesting factor here... but it's still all only a guess and no real facts.

The best thing would be a step by step guide/tutorial on how to reproduce this and maybe even record your screen while trying to reproduce this, otherwise it's still not really "proven"/confirmed and might also be considered to just be a mistype on your part etc.

I think @holiman might be interested in this too, but we already saw a lot of this "claims" and nobody was reliably able to reproduce such issues i.e. it could also just be that s/he thought that s/he typed xyz while she typed xz instead (except the problem with erroneous trailing new lines and the liner problem in geth that I've reported)

@PhilippLgh
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PhilippLgh commented Jun 23, 2019 •
edited

Did a quick test with mist 0.10.0 by copy pasting 1234567\n89 from a text editor into the password input. The created geth keyfile can be unlocked outside of Mist with 1234567\n89 (if used as string in code you might want to write '1234567\\n89'). So all characters from the user input are also used in the password. No information is changed, lost or misrepresented. Though I see how it can be problematic to unlock such accounts in certain UIs that treat \n differently. I also agree that these kind of passwords should not exist in the first place but can also NOT reproduce the reported behavior. It would be important to get more details about the environment and versions being used or even the exact password.

@Zhuvikin
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Hi @PhilippLgh , I wasn't able to find out in logs my previous version of wallet I used when account was actually created. But I recorded a gif where I reproduce the issue. This is an account when I found the bug in. I will not use this account anymore, only for testing purposes. So, I can reveal the original password which was used for account creation: H;bEUo#\BOkSez-.&KpY]o4A[[ozH0x.

You can see that in geth I'm able to unlock account with both H;bEUo#\BOkSez-.&KpY]o4A[[ozH0x and H;bEUo#BOkSez-.&KpY]o4A[[ozH0x. However in wallet I can't transfer with the original version of the password. But it goes without slash.

cRj9cKpTNP

@Zhuvikin
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Zhuvikin commented Jun 23, 2019 •
edited

My current version of wallet is 0.11.1
geth version: 1.8.27-stable
OS: macOS 10.14.5 (18F132)

@holiman
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holiman commented Jun 23, 2019

This is the case in both geth console and a browser (FF) that I just tested with:

> "a\Bc" == "aBc"
true
> "a\Cc" == "aCc"
true
> "a\Dc" == "aDc"
true

Apparently it's a javascript string thing.

However, if the 'raw' mode is used, where we don't just take a javascript string, but actually the terminal input, we can accept the key sequence. I modified version geth to show what happens in the backend, with this diff

[user@work go-ethereum]$ git diff
diff --git a/accounts/keystore/passphrase.go b/accounts/keystore/passphrase.go
index 1ced41e99..af184cc81 100644
--- a/accounts/keystore/passphrase.go
+++ b/accounts/keystore/passphrase.go
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ import (
        "github.com/pborman/uuid"
        "golang.org/x/crypto/pbkdf2"
        "golang.org/x/crypto/scrypt"
+        "github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/log"
+
 )
 
 const (
@@ -104,6 +106,7 @@ func StoreKey(dir, auth string, scryptN, scryptP int) (accounts.Account, error)
 }
 
 func (ks keyStorePassphrase) StoreKey(filename string, key *Key, auth string) error {
+        log.Info("storekey: password", "pw", auth, "pwhex", []byte(auth))
        keyjson, err := EncryptKey(key, auth, ks.scryptN, ks.scryptP)
        if err != nil {
                return err
@@ -138,6 +141,7 @@ func (ks keyStorePassphrase) JoinPath(filename string) string {
 
 // Encryptdata encrypts the data given as 'data' with the password 'auth'.
 func EncryptDataV3(data, auth []byte, scryptN, scryptP int) (CryptoJSON, error) {
+        log.Info("encrypt: password", "pw", auth, "pwhex", []byte(auth))
 
        salt := make([]byte, 32)
        if _, err := io.ReadFull(rand.Reader, salt); err != nil {
@@ -199,6 +203,7 @@ func EncryptKey(key *Key, auth string, scryptN, scryptP int) ([]byte, error) {
 
 // DecryptKey decrypts a key from a json blob, returning the private key itself.
 func DecryptKey(keyjson []byte, auth string) (*Key, error) {
+        log.Info("decrypt: password", "pw", auth, "pwhex", []byte(auth))
        // Parse the json into a simple map to fetch the key version
        m := make(map[string]interface{})
        if err := json.Unmarshal(keyjson, &m); err != nil {

So, using the terminal prompter, instead of a js-string:

> personal.newAccount()
Passphrase: 
Repeat passphrase: 
INFO [06-23|22:33:38.918] storekey: password                       pw=a\\Bc pwhex="[97 92 66 99]"
INFO [06-23|22:33:38.918] encrypt: password                        pw="[97 92 66 99]" pwhex="[97 92 66 99]"
INFO [06-23|22:33:39.671] decrypt: password                        pw=a\\Bc           pwhex="[97 92 66 99]"
INFO [06-23|22:33:40.467] Your new key was generated               address

> personal.unlockAccount("0x084E39F61973D2E39c14efCBd98EDdbda74Fe51e")
Unlock account 0x084E39F61973D2E39c14efCBd98EDdbda74Fe51e
Passphrase: 
INFO [06-23|22:34:25.825] decrypt: password                        pw=a\\Bc           pwhex="[97 92 66 99]"
true

Also, if I specify it in a password file, it also works:

[user@work go-ethereum]$ cat pw.txt 
a\Bc

[user@work go-ethereum]$ build/bin/geth --unlock 0x084E39F61973D2E39c14efCBd98EDdbda74Fe51e --password "pw.txt"
...

INFO [06-23|22:37:28.114] Unlocked account                         address=0x084E39F61973D2E39c14efCBd98EDdbda74Fe51e

Although this is quirky, and obviously a mismatch between geth CLI and Mist, it should be totally reproducable, and not subject to change across versions, and if you created the password in Mist it should still work in Mist. In practice, it's pretty easy to test a given string, if it's echoed back intact when you type it in a javascript console.

> "test\A me"
"testA me"

In general, the javascript console is more of a dev-tool, and string escape sequences may be surprising to people who are not familiar with javascript. Consider:

> console.log("test\n me \n foo")
test
 me 
 foo
undefined

So if someone has used "my\npassword" as a javascript string, that person may be surprised that the actual password contains a linebreak, and not literally \n

@Zhuvikin
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@holiman you're right. This was my fault. I did misunderstand that thing when was creating account several months ago. Just tried to unlock with password prompt.

> personal.unlockAccount(eth.accounts[0])
Unlock account 0xd49f78c91475c61d50388fc24896ac7d2c83ca39
Passphrase: 
(prompt pass with slash)
Error: could not decrypt key with given passphrase

> personal.unlockAccount(eth.accounts[0])
Unlock account 0xd49f78c91475c61d50388fc24896ac7d2c83ca39
Passphrase: 
(prompt pass without slash)
true

Should never use JavaScript strings to create new accounts and passwords! 😃

@chaev
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chaev commented Dec 6, 2019

Finally, I solved this problem with my old account created in Ethereum wallet. I had ! in the password, and with it I always got "wrong password". Now I typed the password without ! and my keystore is unlocked! Try to play with special characters in your password.

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